Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of user interface desktop management and more particularly to task bar entry management for a graphical user interface.
Description of the Related Art
The conventional graphical user interface (GUI) has been widely used for many years. The primary function of the GUI includes providing visual controls with which the end-user can interact with an underlying application. Though the common GUI includes many stock visual controls, a select few visual controls can be combined to accommodate most computer-human interactions required by an application. Notably, GUI controls not only facilitate access to the logic of an application, but also GUI controls form an integral part of the underlying operating system where the operating system is a graphical windowing based operating system.
The most popular windowing based operating systems support a desktop paradigm in which multiple windows hosting views to different applications can occupy the x-y space of a virtualized desktop. The different windows can overlap one another such that a z space of windowing depth can be provided. An interacting end user can select one window at a time for activation while the other windows on the desktop can remain inactive. When active, a window can receive user input events such as keyboard strokes and mouse clicks. When inactive, the window will not receive user input events generally.
A virtually limitless number of windows can be opened on a desktop subject to the memory limitations of a host computing platform. Notwithstanding, once more than a handful of windows have been opened, switching between different windows can be cumbersome. Historically, accelerated keystroke combinations such as ALT-TAB have acted to enable a quick switching from one window to the next. Additionally, a task bar disposed at the perimeter of the desktop has been used to provide a quick selection method for an inactive window. In using a task bar, literally an activatable icon for each window is disposed serially on the perimeter. To switch to a particular window, one need only activate the corresponding activatable icon in the task bar.
Obviously, opening too many windows in the desktop can result in an unmanageable sequence of activatable icons in the task bar such that each icon is too small to convey a visual association with a particular window. Consequently, the traditional task bar does not treat each window identically. Rather, for windows hosting a distinct view to an application, a single corresponding activatable icon can be placed in the task bar; but, for multiple windows for the same application, only a single activatable icon is placed in the task bar as a composite representation of the windows. The single activatable icon, when activated does not immediately switch to the corresponding window. Rather, a pop-up list of different windows for the application can be displayed. Only then, can a selection of a particular window result in the activation of the particular window.
In the latter circumstance, determining an association between an activatable icon in a pop-up list for a task bar entry can be challenging. Selecting an unintended activatable icon can result in the activation of an undesirable window. Worse yet, in as much as end users often prefer a particular ordering of windows in the z-space of the desktop, accidentally selecting an unintended window can destroy the order chosen by the end user. For many windows in a desktop, re-arranging a proper order in z-space in of itself can be time consuming.